JAMAICA NEWSWEEKLY For the Week ending April 2, 2004

———————————————————————THIS WEEK’S NEWS SUMMARY———————————————————————DEADLY CRASH – 02/04/04A teenager lost his life and twenty-four more injured in a minivan crash in Spanish Town,St. Catherine. Damion Brown, 17 died in the Spanish Town Hospital from injuries he sustained from the crash. He was student at the Waterford High School. It is alleged that the driver of the minivan was not the person employed by the owner of the bus. He has fled the scene of the accident and is being sought by police…

PERFORMANCE BASED PAY FOR TEACHERS BACK AT THE FOREFRONTThe Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) is once again saying no to the proposed performance-based pay by government. The JTA says there are other ways to deal with incompetent teachers. Dr. Adolph Cameron General Secretary of the JTA says there is efforts on the way to build a performance based management system but it is not linked with pay. He explained that the Association would never agree to any such proposal…

MINISTRY WARNS AGAINST UNREGISTERED AGENCIES – 01/04/04The Ministry of Labour is warning Jamaicans against continuously doing business with unregistered recruitment agencies. Officials from the ministry say that thousands of Jamaicans are continuously fleeced of thousands of dollars from agencies posing at recruitment agencies for overseas jobs. According to a ministry spokesman, approximately 60 such agencies have sprung up across the island, particularly in the last two years, to take advantage of the increasing number of persons who are seeking hotel and farm jobs overseas.

MOUNTPELIER ST. JAMES GETS HAITIAN REFUGEESThe hundreds of Haitians who fled Haiti to Jamaica is being settled in regular homes provide by the government with the help of the United Nations. Sixty-two of the 179 Haitians are now being settled in the government’ $35-m housing and learning facilities provide. The other 117 refugees will arrive at the facility within the next two weeks…

NEW TREAMENT FOR CHILDREN WITH EAR INFECTION – 31/03/04Thousands of children each year suffer from ear infection or Otitis Media and their parents take them to the doctor for treatment. The America Academy of Paediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians have released new guidelines to help parents and physicians decide on the best treatment for the infection…

EDUCATION MUSEUM FOR MICODr. Claude Packer’s Mico Teachers College will open their education museum of History and Ethnography through the auspices of the Governor General Sir Howard Cooke. Emphasising the importance of the facility, principal of Mico, Dr Claude Packer said that the museum was another building block in the effort being made by the nation, to construct an edifice of its own…

RASTAFARIAN THEOCRACY GETS HIS WISH – 30/03/04The Theocracy, who advocated for all Rastafarian to return to return to the land of Africa, got his wish and was buried in Ethiopia. The execution of his final rites brought an end to a lifelong crusade for repatriation and reparation for which he was a driving force and widely regarded in and out of the Rastafari community at home and aboard. Johnny Golding found Jah Lloyd dead in his room on Thursday, March 18, his close brethren from Jamaica with whom he was staying in Ethiopia since mid last year promoting the efforts of the repatriation movement…

MISS LOU STILL GOING STRONG84 year-old Ambassador of Culture, Dr Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley last week gave a strong performance at the launch of a video documentary on her life. Despite the fact that she was experiencing pain, the Ambassador did not let it deter her from performing several poems and folk songs…

TEACHERS JOINS MOU AGREEMENT – 29/03/04The Jamaica Teachers Association representing over twenty thousand teachers has joined the pact to put a cap on salaries for the next three years. The JTA has signed the Memorandum of Understanding According to Campbell, PNP president, Prime Minister P J Patterson, also told delegates that the concession on wages by government workers “represented an opportunity, not in a tribal or partisan sense, for the government to reconnect with worker issues.”…

BIG GANJA BUST AT THE ISLAND PORTCOMPRESSED ganja, weighing about 2,500 pounds, was yesterday found in a 40-foot container at the Kingston Wharves. Police said Customs’ Contraband Enforcement Team found the illegal drung during a routine operation. The drug, concealed in white, knitted, nylon bags in the container, was destined for Miami in the United States, according to a police spokesman.

——————————————————————–SPORTS———————————————————————REGGAE BOYZ GETS BIG SPONSOR FROM RED STRIPE – 02/04/04The Reggae Boyz got a whooping 75-m in sponsorship from Red Stripe for their road to Germany. Red Stripe yesterday became “title sponsors” of the Reggae Boyz’s “Journey to Germany” World Cup qualifying campaign with an announcement of sponsorship – tagged to its flagship Red Stripe beer – worth at least $75 million over two years …

NO CONTEST FOR GORDEN HUTCHINSON – 01/04/04Gordon Hutchinson remains president of the Jamaica Golf Association after returning unopposed at the Annual General Meeting. The decision was made because of the achievements he has gained during his tenure. Mr. Hutchinson was instrumental in getting the Cable & Wireless National Golf Academy, Jamaica’s first public golf driving range, on stream late last year, has long maintained that expanding access for the sport to the general public and increasing golf tourism activities would help to ensure the sport’s development and growth.

JAMAICA HELD TO TIE BY HONDURASApril 1Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz were held to a 2-2 tie by Honduras in their friendly international at the National Stadium in Jamaica. Onandi Lowe scored Jamaica’s goals in the ninth minute and Fabian Davis in the 52nd minute to give the Boyz a 2-0 lead. Honduras was able to level the score with goals from Emil Martinex (66th minute), and Milton Nunez (78th). The Boyz fell asleep towards the end of the game and were lucky to earn a tie with their South American opponents. Jamaica’s technical director Carl Brown said that his team played well for the first 45 minutes but was affected by injuries to Donovan Ricketts, Claude Davis and Garfield Reid. This was the third meeting in three years between thetwo teams.